DAMN, son. This is some primo writing right here.

The scene with the child was absolutely perfect. It shows him for what a warrior must be: a being who cares, profoundly and deeply. After all, why fight if you have nothing worth protecting? Far too many in the creative world haven't the faintest idea how a Warrior mindset works.

Psychotic and psychopathic individuals make poor warriors. They only care about themselves, or are too broken to function in a team.

Nor is it about rage or hate. A warrior must feel these things, true, but why they feel them matters a great deal. It's about protecting what you love. So of course he likes children and the free-born in general! It's his motivation, and what keeps him human.

That, and the camaraderie of his fellows and their esprit de corps. They share a very powerful bond of mutual exultation and sacrifice. They know each other like very few beings ever will, and that leaves a profound mark on a person. And their mission is a noble one, despite the desperation that must have led to their creation in the first place. They know the mission is good and necessary, were raised for it, were trained for it, were bred for it, were made for it. They love what they do because it is a noble and just thing, and none can do it better than they.

Personally, all the intrigues and whatnot you have going are interesting, sure enough. But his character development is the most interesting bit. And how he handles finding his fallen comrades will be something I eagerly anticipate reading. He clearly knew what he was doing and what to expect when he dived into the complex. What does he plan? How will he mourn?

The most stoic warrior cries the hardest when his friends fall. But only after the mission is accomplished.

Fucking bravo, sir. You have one of the very best pieces of writing on this sub. I admire it greatly. And I wish my storytelling was at this level.

It is interesting to contemplate how much freedom the duty-born had in their upbringing. Perhaps they had many paths before them, but all in service of the Duty? Maybe they had the choice, but their design, upbringing and education mean that very few cross-train into different services?

Perhaps there are support roles like pilots, combat engineers, medics, and the like. Are there women amongst the duty born? We know from practical, real life combat experience that women tend to make better pilots then men for things like helicopters and A-10s...it seems to be the multitasking and their better intuitive sense of complex situations. Men tend to have very focus, driven and singular lines of attack on problems, and that generally doesn't work well with airborne combat. They can and do learn to do all of this, but still...

Men still dominate igh-performance fighter craft. It is mostly a matter of taking the Gs. Were women naturally strong and muscular enough to handle the airframe at those G loads, I'm sure they'd be better pilots there too. And the few high-performance female pilots we have are excellent.

So many possibilities. I can't wait to read more about your universe!